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Module by the forest officer and, at best, rubber stamped by the village committee without any real consultation.
5 This practice of rubber stamping is an implicit policy that is not written down (in fact, it would be against

the official and stated policy), but is the one that tends to be in force. Often, policies result simply from the
incremental accumulation of decisions made over time. Although each of these individual decisions may

be of little environmental consequence, together they can produce far-reaching effects.
9-12 December, 2013 implement a certain policy, and to evaluate and modify its implementation on a regular basis.
“Policy making” is a long-term, interactive and multi-stakeholder process to develop a framework to

Environmental policy is developed in a socio-economic and political context, usually in response to a
problem. Addressing specific problems in democratic societies often takes a predictable course, called
the policy life cycle. The typical policy life cycle has four stages: recognition, formulation, implementation
and control (Figure 22). Each of these stages carries a certain amount of political weight, which varies
over time. It should be noted that the following four stage cycle is a simplified view of a highly complex
and often contentious political process .
7
? Recognition: Early perception of an environmental problem, often coming as a result of scientific
research or observation, followed by dissemination and popularization of information by the media.

? Formulation: This is a stage of rapidly increasing political weight. The public and the media are now
aroused, and debate about different policy options to address the problem occurs in numerous
political circles.

? Implementation: At this stage, the policy has been determined, and the focus moves to
implementation. Public concern and political weight decline. Over time, greater attention may
be given to policy evaluation to assess whether the policy achieves its objectives and solves the
environmental problem.

? Control: By this stage, years have passed since the early recognition of the problem, the problem has
been partially solved and it is under control. Public awareness and support have improved, and the public
often forgets that there ever was a problem as new problems are recognized and new cycles begun.

One class of policy instruments with special relevance for some environmental issues is multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs). MEAs typically cover environmental issues that affect more than one
country or in some cases the entire global community. MEAs have been in force since the 1930s and they

cover a wide range of issues some with direct, other indirect but important environmental implications
(UNEP 2007).

7. Richard T. Wright, “Environmental Science,” Pearson, 2005

72 Integrated Analysis of Environmental Trends and Policies